Clinical / Counselling Psychologist

Job summary

Applications are invited for a part-time Clinical or Counselling Psychologist post in specialist perinatal Thumbswood Mother and Baby Inpatient Unit (MBU). Thumbswood MBU is a specialist 6-bed inpatient unit providing support for families from Hertfordshire and out-of-area who are experiencing a serious mental health difficulty during pregnancy or in the postnatal period.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will have varied responsibilities; offering psychological assessments, the delivery of individual and group evidence-based psychological interventions in order to support the mother-infant relationship, offering supervision and reflective practice to a range of junior psychology colleagues and the wider MDT, service development and audit, teaching and training to MDT and healthcare colleagues as well as liaison and consultation.

The successful applicant will receive regular supervision from the Principal Perinatal Clinical Psychologist and be an integrated member of MDTs; attending team meetings and perinatal-specific training sessions as well as liaising with team members and healthcare professionals throughout Hertfordshire. The team has close links with the University of Hertfordshire and its clinical psychology training course.

About us

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of 'Outstanding' from theCare Quality Commission.

Our family of over 4,500 members of staff provide health and social care for people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. Everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout:

Welcoming. Kind. Positive. Respectful. Professional.

Job responsibilities

Job Summary:

To contribute to the ongoing development of a highly specialised perinatal psychology service for women who are pregnant, or up to 2 years postnatal, with, or at risk of, a wide range of mental health problems including complex and severe difficulties, such as Complex Trauma, Postpartum Psychosis, Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder and Bipolar Disorder.

To aid in the assessment, formulation and care planning of women in the perinatal period, as well as the mother-infant dyad and to provide and evaluate a range of high-quality, evidence-based perinatal-specific psychological interventions; individual and group, for service users and families. Experience across a range of therapeutic models is essential including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and other models such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, EMDR, Systemic Therapy and Mindfulness.

To be responsible for offering liaison and consultation to members of the multi-disciplinary team, liaising with colleagues within the inpatient mother and baby unit, the community psychology and psychotherapy service, local maternity services, as well as non-professional carers and other agencies on matters related to the psychological needs and issues relevant to the service and its users

To offer high-quality clinical and professional supervision to junior psychology colleagues and trainee clinical/counselling psychologists

To utilise research skills for audit, policy, and service development and research within the service

To work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of team policies and procedures

The post holder will need to be HCPC registered.

Key Relationships:

Liaises with:

CPT Principal Perinatal Clinical Psychologist (supervisor)

Inpatient mother and baby unit team

CPT Therapies Colleagues

CPT Service Manager and Team Leaders

CPT Consultant Psychiatrist

ACMHS Lead Psychologist

Junior Doctors

Social Workers

CPNs

OTs

Local maternity services

Managers and Clinical Staff

Other Psychological Services staff within HPFT

Please see JD/PS for more details

Person specification

Experience

Essential

• Post-graduate doctorate in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS or fully completed training as a Counselling Psychologist.
• Proven experience working as a qualified practitioner with clients with severe mental illness within a mental health setting.
• Experience of working with women who are pregnant or up to 2 years postnatal, who have, or are at risk of a range of complex mental health problems (such as postnatal depression and postpartum psychosis)
• Current full registration with HCPC

Desirable

• Post-qualification training in assessment and intervention models in one or more of the following: CBT, Systemic Therapy, Family Interventions.
• Training and expertise in the theory and application of Parent-Infant therapies, such as VIG and Circle of Security

Knowledge

Essential

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, including those with physical health conditions and or long-term conditions across the whole life span's presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity whilst maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Knowledge of whole life span development and the impact on emotional, psychological and mental well-being.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two evidence based psychological interventions including CBT, Systemic Therapy or Family Interventions.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the fields of Clinical / Counselling Psychology.